School is out!!! Bring on summer holidays!!!

Nathan, Braydan, and Jordan!!! All together, looking fairly happy to be starting summer 2010!!!

It only took a few takes to get the final group shot. Braydan was stuffing cereal down trying to get out the door before heading off to Victoria with his good friend John and family to spend 'Canada Day' Victoria style. Lucky guy!

The summer is going to be filled with each of the boys heading off in a variety of directions. Braydan is going on his final Hornby Island Outdoor Adventure Camp for a week. Nathan will be heading down to Mexico with his BFF Cade to spend some time at Cade's Dad's gooey duck farm. Jordan will be spending four weeks in an adventure camp in Squamish, BC repelling, kayaking, mountain bike riding, etc. So much fun! I hope to keep everyone up to date with photos and video throughout the summer festivities. Hope everyone has a great start to the summer!!

I will be heading out on Friday to swim-bike-run the Ironman Canada Race course with a couple of "Ironwoman" newbie racers from Kamloops. I plan on taking as many photos as possible of our training weekend!

Cheers!!

Lucky Beer Speed Suits & Time Trials Make Wednesday Nights So Much Fun!

Wednesday night Time Trials during the spring and summer are on my top ten list of 'most favorite places to be' in the Comox Valley!!!

I had a slow start to the time trial season due to a conflict with Brady's soccer happening at the same time. Last week Brady went to camp with the school and this Mom was free to finally get herself back out to the club TT's. I missed them soooooo much! So tonight, I brought Brady with me after he finished his soccer. I am determined now to make them happen. Brady also attempted to do some video for the club and I. Sorry, we didn't get everyone in, and some are out of focus, but pretty good for an 11 year old!

Tonight was Forbidden Plateau with a 6 km climb up and then a 6 km fast descent back. I didn't have the greatest start as the 'bike holder' was still holding onto the back of my bike when I started to pedal. Then he let go and I had lost momentum and almost fell over. I was able to quickly unclip from my pedal, get my balance, and start going again. It was a gong show! I couldn't stop laughing! The stumble at the start will have to count for at least 3 or 4 seconds of time lost for sure! Yikes! That's big when your trying to keep up with the young guns!

Another big addition to my TT nights is my new Lucky Beer Speed Suit from Simon's Cycles! It rocks. No, I don't drink Lucky Beer, but Simon begged me to don a suit with the Lucky logo as there isn't any other female in the valley with the suit.

If you have not done a TT in a speed suit, you have not lived! You feel the wind on your body slip by, as these suits are so tight and aero, you feel fast, even if you really are not. I was actually 40 seconds faster than my last posted time at this event in 2009! (even with my goofy start!)

Thanks to everyone that volunteers every Wednesday night to let us speed junkies tear up the roads!

Still laughing after almost falling off my bike!!!

To everyone that is racing this weekend in the Victoria New Balance Half Iron, GOOD LUCK!

Soooo excited to do this race again! I will post a race report after Sunday!

Thursday Night Women's Trail Run!

The Man In the Arena

Theodore Roosevelt

April 23, 1910

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Absolutely one of my most favorite quotes of all time! This quote sums up exactly how I felt after I left the parking lot last night at the end of another epic ELM trail run. As we started our run along the famously named trails in the Cumberland woods the air was humid and it started to rain a little. There was no complaining. The sounds of bear calls and women laughing filled the trails. We were free to climb, descend, trip over roots, rocks, and share our most profound thoughts of the day and of our lives.

Sarah Seads (owner of ELM) building an Inukshuk while her trail runners put their map reading skills to the test! Our goal tonight was to tackle the steepest climb to get the most spectacular view of the Comox Valley and beyond to the Georgia Strait!

Arran enjoying a fantastic view of the town of Cumberland. The area of buildings that you can see in the distance is where our cars are parked.

Goose Spit in the distance!

Making our way back down the rootsy, knarly trails! Whoo Hoo!!

The fantastic women of ELM!!!